108 TREES AND SIIK! BS 



I. PTELEA. Skunk Bush 



Branching shrubs (i to 10 feet high, with Bmooth dark- 

 colored bark on the old stems and greenish or yellow or reddish 

 brown bark on the young stems; strongly scented; leaves 3-folio- 

 late, the leaflets oblong lanceolate or rhombic, the terminal one at- 

 tenuate at the base, the lateral ones inequilateral, pellucid-punctate; 

 flowers polygamous, greenish yel'ow. small, in cymes, sepals, petals, 

 and stamens 4 or 5 the last abortive in the pistillate flowers; ovary 

 2 or 3-celled: fruit a flattened. 2 or 3-seeded. disk-shaped, reticu- 

 lated samara. 



Younger branches whitish, yellow, or straw- 

 colored; plants sweet scented; leaves turn- 

 ing bright yellow in autumn. ,. ,. , Ua 



Younger branches reddish brown; plants ill- 

 scented; leaves green when shed. ». /'. mollis. 



2. ASTROPHYLLUM Torr. 



Low shrub with rather thick, rough stems bearing opposite, 

 palmately 5 to L0-fo:iolate 1< .wded near the ends; leaflets 



linear, thick. ( 1. right green, coarsely dentate, conspicuously glandu- 

 lar punctate; flowers large, 10 to 20 mm. in diameter, either solitary 

 or in 2 to 4-flowered clusters, axillary, white: stamens 8 to 10; 

 ovary 5-lobed, hairy, becoming a 2-celled capsule by the abortion 

 of some of the cells. 

 A rather rare shrub. 1# 4< dumosum. 



